Mala Burt, who writes with Laura Ambler, blogs about inspiration in writing, gardening, food, and life in St. Michaels – the prettiest town on Maryland's Eastern Shore.

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Six on Saturday: Feb 24, 2018

Six on Saturday is the idea of a garden blogger. The idea is for people to take photos of things in and around gardens and post six photos on Saturday. These are mine.

I was at the St. Michaels Woman’s Club yesterday. A friend and I have been tending the grounds for a number of years and are passing the torch. We were at the club to meet with a local landscaper so we could get a bid on ongoing maintenance. We are just getting too creaky to do all we’ve been doing (like putting down 14 cubic yards of mulch). We have enough to do in our own gardens. In one corner of the back yard I found an early camellia dewed by a gentle rain.

We’ve had a wet spring, but warmer than normal temps which is pushing things to bloom a couple of weeks before they should. I found daffodils blooming today in a corner of my yard. Our town, St. Michaels, MD is having a Daffodil Festival April 14-15. I wonder if all those thousands of bulbs that were planted last fall will have come and gone by then.

There is yard clean-up to do, but it’s been too wet. The grasses need to be cut back along with many other shrubs. You can see the standing water, but day lilies don’t seem to mind wet feet. The red twig dogwood needs to be cut back soon, but I’llenjoy looking at it for a little while longer. I took alot of things out of this bed last fall and am waiting to see what’s still there before I replant. I just noticed that in the back left of this photo is the bright blue kneeling pad I couldn’t find.

Last fall I ordered 50 allium schubertii. They make a huge head that I dry and use in flower arrangements. That was definitely one of those what-was-I-thinking purchases. I planted those bulbs everywhere, including plastic pots that I grow vegetables in. I noticed that some in the ground have been munched so I started spraying with Deer-Off which should help with deer and rabbits unless the rain washes it off. Or, come to think of it, these might be tulips. I also bought too many of those and was frantic to get them in the ground.

Bok choy wintered over without a row cover. It is so sweet and tender. We are enjoying it in salads.

At home I have a small bed of garlic that I planted last fall. At our local community garden I have a number of beds and half of one of those is also planted with garlic. 4′ x 7′ more of garlic there.

That’s my six this rainy Saturday. I’m heading back out to pick some bok choy for dinner.

Is redtwig dogwood Cornus stolonifera? It looks like what grows wild here, although ours does not color like garden varieties and in mild weather. We would coppice it, but must instead leave stumps about knee high so that no one trips over them.

Ok, it’s time to start another SoSer betting pool on your mystery bulbs. I’ll put a fiver on allium, altho the bottom ones do look very tulip-ish. And the camellia is gorgeous. It looks slightly purple on my screen, a colour I’ve never seen from them. Is that it’s true colour? Lovely first Six. Hope to see you again (& hear if there’s any daffs left in April).